Wichita eagle., 1887-05-24
THE CHINESE DOCTOR.
A CELESTIAL PHYSICIAN CHATS
WITH A ST. LOUIS REPORTER.

Flowery Kingdom-Chinese Theory OF
Medicine-The Ruling Spirit-Circula-
ton of the Blood.
Kwong Shang has been practicing medicine
now for ten years, and has effected many
wonderful cures. He is modest enough to say
that the Mclean physicians know good deal
about medicine and the ills that flesh is heir
to, but not as much as the Chinese demigods,
whose dicta upon medicine have been fol-
lowed unvaryingly for the last 5000 years,
and in which now some 400, 100000 of pig
tailed people have the most implicit and abid-
ing faith. He said that there were many
government and private colleges in China in
which pupils were instructed: that course
in surgery occupied about four years, and in
medicine six years. Before entering medi-
cal college there the pupil had to be well
versed In the Chinese classics, and be well
educated in all things pertaining to religion,
as well as history, manners and customs
| Only the most learned men are allowed to in
| struct In medicine and to explain the mean
| ing of passages in the books written by sages
in long past centuries.
The examination Of pupils was not con-
| Quoted in the same manner as in this coun-
| try. The preceptor takes before his pupils q
| man who has an ailment and they each in
| turn examine him and determine from his
| symptoms what ais him. Then they write
| out their findings and state the disease its
| causes and its cure, which, if it corresponds
| to the teachings Of the books and the profes-
| sor'S understanding Of the case. demonstrates
| that the pupils are competent to practice
medicine without the risk of being beheaded
as frauds and cheats. Thepupil is then given
his diploma, a board about half an inch
thick, about six inches wide and eighteen
inches long, on which appears in brass hero
| glyphics the statement that the owner is COM
petent to treat for all outside and inside COM
| plants. This diploma is at the same time
/ the medico's sign, and a counterfeit thereof is
counterfeit of a legal FORM punishable by
the most severe penalties.
THE CELESTIAL THEORY.
According to the celestial theory of medi-
| cine, which partakes much OF the nature Of
| their theology and philosophy, man is closely
| associated with and influenced by the ex-
| ternal world. For instance, there are five
| planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and
Mercury, which are supposed to have inf1u-
ence over the five viscera, stomach, liver,
heart, lungs and kidneys; that there are five
elements in man, earth, wood, fire. metal and
water, corresponding with five colors, yellow,
green, red, white and black, and those re-
lated again to the five tastes, sweet, sour,
bitter pungent and salt. The combination
of the blood and the breath, they hold, con-
stitute life, and the withdrawal of one of
these means death With all this fanciful
theory there is also woven into the system in
manner utterly inexpicable the belief in
the androgynous nature of all things, that
everything is part male and part female
Such thing as experimenting in medicine is
unknown. Dissecting they hold to be in
human, end vivisection they denounce in IN
measured terms. With this view of these
things it is impossible that the Chinese should
have any surgery beyond perhaps taking off
mashed limb or cutting out bullet They
have a sort of anaSthetic not SO strong as
chloroform, but it is seldom used, for, as
kwong Shang said:
whats the usel Man hurts, put him to
sleep. No good. Hurt all the same'
The heart, according to Kwong Shang, is
the center Of thought, the brain being, in the
Chinese physiology, but an inferior part of
the man. There is no chemistry required in
a Chinese doctor. Pretty near everything
that comes to hand is medicinal in its nature,
and the Chinese pharmacopoeia is as extern
sive as their dictionary would be if they had
one, for no word VIII express more than one
idea.
The father Of Chinese medicine was Shun
Nong, and he lived about 5000 years ago,
being a sort of emperor or prince or demi- !
god. Shun Nong was not made like an Or
binary mortal. He was transparent, and
could see right through himself Whenever
anything went wrong with him he just looked
into himself to see what was the matter, and
then took his medicine and marked how the !
dose got to the spot. He noted down all his |
observations in a book, and from these obser-
vations and his deductions therefrom succeed |
ing generations of physicians have never once
departed.
CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.
The Chinese believe that the blood is rum |
ming in the veins, but Kwong Shang could |
not agree with the reporter that the blood |
was pumped from the heart He believed |
that it was the air, a half of the vital princi- |
pal, which kept it moving all the time All |
such things as glands, nerves, ducts, etc,
which are SO prominent in the western physi- |
ology, are utterly unknown 10 the Chinaman
They can know nothing about these things,
practice of dissection
ment is that there are certain channels Lead
ing to certain portions of the body, and that |
medicine placed in the mouth and swallowed |
goes directly through these channels to these
portions. One of his medical books. which |
he exhibited TO the reporter, contained a dia-
gram of a statue called the Brass Man at Pekin,
showing these various channels through which
medicine passes. The channels run across
each other and throurb vital ,ar+S |
absolute disregard of intersections and con-
fuency, and the diagram represents plat of
a mining district with the different claims
running into each other in the most b.wilder-
ing fashion. The only method of determining
a patients ailment is by examination of the
pulse. There are. so said Shung Nong, and
so say all his disciples TO this day, twelve
courses through which the pulses run, and
the office of the pulses is to bring news from
the important portions of the body as 70 their
Each wrist has three pulses, and
each pulse two forms of developments The
Chinese physician occasionally looks at the
patients tongue, but Kwong Shong is certain
that no information could be gained as 70 the
state of patients lungs by listening at the
breast. 1t is quite feature of practice to
iiet patients. and the failure of the patient to
'tick to the diet generally results in a row
Globe Democrat Interview
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